Branding has always reminded me of cooking gumbo. You start with basic ingredients, mix them together with intention, and hope you don’t burn the roux. But at some point, if the flavor isn’t landing, you have to make a decision: keep things bland or add some spice. In marketing, spice isn’t cayenne… it’s personality, flavor,...

There’s an old saying in New Orleans: “If people aren’t talking about you, you probably haven’t done anything worth talking about.” The same logic applies to marketing. In 2025, with everyone’s attention span roughly the length of a TikTok clip, the only way an ad survives is if it sparks a conversation. And not just any conversation—the...

By Brett Thomas, Owner of Jambalaya Marketing – New Orleans, Louisiana   Let’s face it—artificial intelligence has officially taken over the internet like Mardi Gras beads in a live oak tree. Everywhere you look, there’s a chatbot explaining things, a virtual assistant making decisions, and an algorithm judging your website like a contestant on a...

Somewhere along the way, between dial-up internet and TikTok, humanity’s attention span packed its bags and left the building. Scientists say the average human now has a shorter attention span than a goldfish, and honestly, the goldfish seems to be doing just fine. In today’s digital world, a brand has about three seconds to grab...

By Brett Thomas, Owner of Jambalaya Marketing – New Orleans, Louisiana Color has a way of influencing people long before logic ever kicks in. It’s the reason a bright red “SALE” sign can make someone spend money they didn’t plan to, or why a cool blue finance ad makes them feel like their 401(k) is...

By Brett Thomas, Owner of Jambalaya Marketing – New Orleans, Louisiana   There’s a big difference between having followers and having customers. A lot of businesses have a social media page full of likes, hearts, and “” emojis—but their cash register sounds more like crickets than jazz. Don’t get me wrong, followers are nice. They...

Let’s start with a confession: people don’t buy because of logic. They buy because something tugs at that mysterious place between the heart and the funny bone. Facts and figures might win a debate, but feelings win the wallet. And in a city like New Orleans—where music, food, and emotion spill out onto every corner—marketing...

There’s a certain kind of magic in retargeting ads. Not the kind of magic where a rabbit pops out of a hat, but the kind where a pair of shoes you looked at once somehow follows you around the internet like it owes you money. Annoying? Maybe a little. Effective? Absolutely. I’ve been in this...

Running a marketing agency in New Orleans means living in a city where stories practically float through the air like jazz on Frenchmen Street. Around here, even a bowl of gumbo has a backstory. Somebody’s grandmother perfected it during the Depression, somebody else swears the secret is in the roux, and before long you’ve got...

Down here in New Orleans, it doesn’t take long to realize that calendars don’t run on the same schedule as everywhere else. Sure, January brings resolutions and February brings Valentine’s Day. But in this city, January brings king cake, February brings beads flying through the air, and half the spring is measured in parades instead...

In New Orleans, people take gumbo seriously. Ask ten locals how to make it and you’ll get ten different recipes, all delivered with the confidence of a jazz trumpeter hitting a high note. Some will say it’s all about the roux, others will swear by the sausage, and at least one person will insist that...

If someone had told me twenty years ago that one day advertisers would be whispering into microphones, tapping fingernails on soda cans, and crinkling chip bags for marketing purposes, I probably would have laughed and said, “That sounds like late-night radio gone wrong.” Fast-forward to today, and that very thing has a name: ASMR. And...